Call of Cthulhu: Red, White and Blacker than Black

Chaos reigns in a mid day heist

The Investigators finally decide to make their move on the Red Hook branch of the Bank of New York. Stan Hewitt, Max Taggart, and Frank Harris make their move on the bank. Bringing Sean Giallian with them and leaving Delta Green Agent Anna Silvo in the car as a getaway driver, the heist begins. Max enters first, claiming to investigate his box. A gun is taken from him as he enters the bank but he still makes a play in the vault, knocking out the bank manager and brawling with a security guard, taking a bullet to the shoulder for his efforts but still able to liberate the box.

While Max fights in the vault, the rest of the group holds up the bank for as long as possible. After a few minutes, they hear several rounds of gunfire and a German man enters the bank. He prepares to draw a gun on Frank but Frank shoots him dead before he can draw. Stan goes into the vaults and brings Max and the box out and the group prepares to exit the bank.

Stan kicks out the door and they’re immediately held down by suppressive fire from the sniper’s nest atop the apartment building. Desperate to escape, the investigators let the hostages go and attempt to blend in with them as they leave. The firing stops and as the group reaches the getaway car, they see that Silvo has been shot dead. They attempt to pull her out of the car and immediately receive attention from the entrenched shooter, who opens fire on them. Stan tries to suppress the shooter and the Investigators make their escape.

The investigators leave the getaway car in a hotel lot and strip the plates before stealing another car. They drop off Sean and pay him $1,000 before returning to the boarding house. There, they are taken hostage by the Kartechia agents who’ve been after them. A female agent asks them for the box and holds Frank and Stan at gunpoint. Max promises to get them something from the car and brawls with one of the German agents. Taking advantage of the female agents divided attention, Stan leaps on her, beats her unconscious and steals her gun. Frank takes a shotgun, heads downstairs and kills the agent Max is fighting. Stan executes the female agent and the investigators flee Red Hook with the police in hot pursuit.

The investigators stop at a motel in Eastern Pennsylvania for the night and investigate Maximoff’s records, including ledes in a variety of locations. They are most interested in an estate Maximoff was meant to be the executor of in Arkham. The investigators return to Washington DC and return all of the items in the box, excluding Maximoff’s diaries, to ATF Investigator Anthony Moltasanti. Frank also accepts an offer from Moltasanti to formally join Delta Green Cell M but he secretly conspires to investigate the Arkham estate before accepting a mission. The investigators board a train to Boston with plans to drive to Arkham.

Lines are tested

The Investigators elude the police and eventually decide to try to make contact with one of the other attempted robbers, Sean Giallian. The group makes contact and promises him $1,000 to tell them his information about the bank. He informs them primarily about the delivery schedules and timing in the basement and how it applies to work upstairs.

One night, Stan Hewitt goes to the bank and climbs the fire-escape of the nearby apartment complex to see what view is available. Atop the building, he finds a sniper rifle from the war, as well as a German knife, a tent and a host of survival supplies. He concludes someone, possibly one of the Germans, has been observing the bank from the roof for the last few days.

It takes a few days for the team to come up with a potential plan to attack the bank. The next morning, Stan Hewitt hears a crash near the bank and finds a car with a resuscitated corpse inside. Stan passes out and Max Taggart notes that someone was watching over the crash from the roof of the apartment building across the street. He alerts the police who are unable to find anyone on the roof. Stan comes to and the group comes to believe the Germans are moving quicker on their plans targeting the bank. Frank Harris calls ATF Investigator Anthony Moltasanti who tells him to prepare for action as soon as possible. The Investigators decide to finalize plans and beat the Germans to the bank deposit box.

Shadows form

The Investigators begin to explore options for the break in. Stan Hewitt and Delta Green Agent Anna Silvo attempt to get uniforms matching the security guards.’ Frank Harris and Max Taggart begin to set up surveillance of the bank, establishing the business’ hours. The pair even enter the bank on Saturday to take a look at the internal workings of the shift.

The group sets up shop at a bar across the street but are unable to figure out the next steps. They decide to start making larger preparations. Hewitt and Harris decide to head to the libraries and police stations in order to look at criminal records related to the bank and Silvo and Taggart head into Manhattan in order to procure heavy equipment. Silvo and Taggart procure sledgehammers, bolt cutters, drills, and dynamite from the back door of a supplier. Meanwhile, Hewitt and Harris are able to pull information on the bank’s transportation operation which they contract through Steel Secure Transport. At the Brooklyn 103’rds precinct, they pull files on several attempted armed robberies of the truck. They find information on Luke D’Argino and Ralphie Maccano attempted to rob the truck in ‘48 and Dill O’Doule and Bryan Marts attempted to rob the truck in ’51.

The Investigators decide to stash Taggart’s cash of gear at the greenbox in the harbor. On the way there, Taggart notices that the car has picked up a tail and he thinks it might be the German from outside of Maximoff’s house. The group eventually believes they lost the pursuers and stash the goods at the box.

Hewitt decides the team needs to get in contact with one of the other people who attempted to rob Steel Secure. Since D’Argio and Maccano were both minors at the time of their attempted robbery, they’re unable to be found in the phone book. Hewitt settles on tracking Marts, who’s living in a second story walk-up above a harbor bar. Hewitt attempts to make a deal with Marts, offering him $1,000 to be involved with a new robbery. Without being able to provide details of the plan, Marts tries to blackmail him and takes a $500 retainer before telling Hewitt he’ll consider the offer. Hewitt leaves but, head swimming in booze and adrenaline, isn’t pleased and breaks into Marts’ apartment and pistol whips him.

Bleeding and on the edge of consciousness, Marts fires a bullet clear through Hewitt’s shoulder, alerting the bar downstairs. The investigators rush a slightly wounded Hewitt into the car and flee the scene, the sound of police cars close behind.

Maximoff is dead, her secrets will live

With Maximoff dead or missing following the botched investigation in Brooklyn, Delta Green holds a remembrance of the once valued leader of Cell M. Claiming Maximoff is being treated for hysteria, Anthony Moltasanti plans DG’s next move not that he’s been placed in control of Cell M. He calls in Frank Harris to prepare to investigate Maximoff’s secrets and look into some of what she knows from the fall of Germany that she did not disclose to the agency. To help, he dispatches Delta Green Agent Anna Silvo and gives Frank access to two unwilling recruits, Stan Hewitt and Max Taggart.

Harris leads a stakeout of Maximoff’s home and after a few hours of surveillance, the team breaks into her residence. While dodging booby traps, Harris finds a stash of bank statements pointing to a deposit box Maximoff held at the Bank of New York branch in Red Hook New York. While investigating the house, the team also finds evidence of Maximoff’s deterioriating state of mind. Much of the house seems to have been recently emptied and her bedroom is filled to the brim with her garbled, seeming unintelligible paranoias about The Karotechia and other threats. Hewitt also encounters a disturbing phenomenon in Maximoff’s basement, giving him what may have been a vision of a dark haired woman in bright red heels in the middle of an old USO show.

The Investigators, however, quickly realize they’re not alone in holding an interest in Maximoff’s secrets. Taggart encounters a pair of suspicious German milkmen who were also casing the house. The men speed away and Silvo reveals that a woman was also there. With information about the safety deposit box in their heads, the team heads to Red Hook, all the while trying to lay low from the still suspicious NYPD.

The group rents a room and begins to stake out the bank after encountering a strange film in a DG Greenbox. Hewitt and Harris head to the bank, meeting with bank associates and having a random encounter with The Man. The Man claims to know about Maximoff’s disappearance as well as DG’s opinion on Harris’ sanity. He offers Harris his help in liberating Maximoff’s safe deposit box for a price but Harris again rejects the stranger’s help. The Man leaves but not before giving Harris a literal “Get Out of Jail Free” Card.

Death walks

Looking to connect the dots Frank Harris, Michael Saint and Vic Saxon being aggressively investigating Burrelli’s connection the disappearances. That aggression forces Saxon to accelerate his timeline in working to go undercover with Christopher Burrelli and Furio Alpharenzi. That action leaves him taken by the gangsters with Saint suffering from a bullet wound.

With the help of Anna Silvo, Saint recovers from his injury and prepare to go back up against Burrelli. DG wants to extract Saxon quickly before he is interrogated but they don’t realize the desperation of the scenario. A mysterious individual, identified as Mr. Handlen, interrogates Saxon, claiming to be from an organization known as “The Fate,” a turn of the century occult society that he claims has been resurrected. During the interrogation, Saxon begins to go insane and appears to have his mind switched out of his body and placed inside of Burrelli’s body while Burrelli’s mind is placed inside his body.

Saint and Kristina Maximoff attempt to execute one final attempt at bringing Salvatore Lucano’s killer to justice and investigate Tony Moltani. During the investigation, Saint continuously feels as if he’s being watched and Maximoff suddenly disappears. Nervous and losing his grasp on reality, Saint executes Moltani and flees with Silvo, attempting to reach a meet with Hansen and Burrelli.

The meeting becomes a bloodbath with Burrelli, Saxon, Saint, Furio and three Lucano gangsters killed in the crossfire. A blood-soaked Harris escapes the warehouse with Silvo and prepares to leave New York with fewer answers than when the investigation began, knowing that the mysterious Handlen is also on the loose.

Frank Harris investigates Sal Lucano’s criminal empire and finds several charges, including one leading back to a mysterious social group led by one Madame A, who disappeared in the late ‘40s. Harris investigates and finds one Dr. Otto Schmidt who owns a home on Long Island. When investigating, Harris runs into The Man, who is buying the home. The Man knows about Delta Green’s investigation into Lucano’s death and warns Harris of the implications of following up on the investigation and what he may find.

Returning to Manhattan, Harris tells FBI Special Agent Kristina Maximoff about encountering The Man and she orders the agents to find the stranger and bring him in for questioning, although Saxon believes Maximoff wants The Man dead or tortured for unknown means.

Meeting Burrelli on the shore, Saint is intimidated and threatened by the gangster and his underboss who take his gun. Burrelli wants the promised information about the investigation and Saint doesn’t have an answer for him. Burrelli, appearing wildly unhinged, threatens Saint to find information by 6 p.m. that night. Desperate, Saint and Saxon work on fabricating identification before giving up as Saxon prepares to wing his interaction with Burrelli and potentially bring him in.

As Harris prepares to investigate deeper into Sal Lucano and the families criminal holdings, Saint debates with Maximoff about the way to play Burrelli as the clock ticks down and Maximoff doubts his ability to play the killer. Meanwhile, Saxon decides to return to the Long Island home, looking for The Man.

He finds much more. The house has been emptied but something is stalking him and he finds evidence that occult activity may have happened at the home. He goes to the guest house, the only place that hasn’t been cleared but is ambushed by a young blonde woman in a leather jacket. She speaks cryptically as she holds Saxon at gunpoint and as he tries to stop her, she shouts “Approach not me and what I will is fate.” Feeling more eyes on him and needing to escape, Saxon runs as the woman’s shot misses. As he flees the room, Saxon has trouble breathing and falls to the ground, suffocating. As his vision fades, he looks up and sees the woman’s face and an otherworldly presence with hollow eyes stares back before they both wink out of existence. Saxon passes out as his world begins to break.

A mysterious kill could lead to a mob civil war

On February 2, Frank Harris gets a call from FBI Special Agent Kristina Maximoff who orders him to come to the Hotel Bossert in Brooklyn. He begins packing. In Brooklyn, Maximoff posts bail for ex-conMichael Saint and orders him to help with a Delta Green operation in exchange for a clean slate, a break from being another potential hired gun. He reluctantly agrees but forces Maximoff to promise that she can clear his name.

Moltasanti reveals that Delta Green has been tasked with investigating the disappearance of Mob boss Salvatore Lucano. Moltasanti believes Lucano’s disappearance reeks of supernatural or paranormal activity and may not be a simple mob hit and wants Cell M to investigate the disappearance before ATF or the FBI take over the case when violence inevitably erupts.

Moltasanti explains the case and states that Maximoff has called in help from “the nerds,” a cell of researchers, fact checkers, and log listeners to assist in the investigation. The group breaks into teams and Moltasanti and Harris head to Lucano’s apartment to investigate the crime scene. Moltasanti asks how Harris is dealing with the death of Liev Sokolov after he was killed in Carrollton and expresses his grief to be unable to pay back the man who saved his life.

Harris and Moltasanti investigate the appartment and initially find nothing. It appears as if the windows and doors were all locked at the time of Lucano’s disappearance and all evidence points to the boss being ready for a possible attack, as the appartment is filled with weapons. Harris does notice that a shower rod has recently been knocked down in the tub, a bullet hole in the outside porcelain and some subtle staining to the interior porcelain which may have been caused by blood.

Saint and Saxon decide to speak with Eva Krupnick, the last woman to see Lucano. They talk their way into her tiny Crown Street apartment and harass her about Lucano’s disappearance. Krupnick is suspicious of the two and continuously ask their names and how they know Christopher Burrelli but neither Saxon or Saint reveal much of their identity. They leave, only learning that Krupnick left the apartment to buy a pack of cigarettes before finding Lucano gone. Saint says he believes that by shaking down Krupnick, they may be able to find out what the mob thinks of her story and gain more information by staking out her place. The pair, however, move on to Lucano’s apartment.

The investigators discuss their findings and Saint and Harris speak with the building’s super about what he may have seen or not seen on February 2. He reveals little but does let them check the apartment above Lucano’s and the basement but they find little. Saxon also reexamines Lucano’s apartment before Saint and Saxon go to the local bodega to see if Krupnick’s alibi checks out. The store owner remembers a girl fitting her description on the day of the disappearance.

Harris, Saxon and Saint decide to investigate Delta Green’s greenbox on the coast but first Saxon makes a cryptic call to Maximoff, stating that he’s willing to help infiltrate the Lucano family if the organization can flip one of the main guys. Maximoff seems to understand what is in play and agrees to it but makes sure that she has plausible deniability. The three finally make it to the greenbox and find a variety of firearms, several literally translated side-by-side bibles and a chalkboard filled with mathematical formulas. The group decides to check in with Delta Green and Saint decides to pick up one of Lucano’s guns from the safehouse.

Fire purges an alien invasion

In an ill fated attempt to destroy the head in the jar, Liev Sokolov attracts the attention of the bugs. With his legs destroyed by an early deployed hand grenade, he’s picked up and taken to the pillar. He’s able to hold off the bugs for a few moments with a pair of bullets but is electrocuted and dies before being suspended on the spire.

Kristina Maximoff and Frank Harris go back to the spire, looking for Doug Morrison and Sokolov. However, they end up bearing witness to the bugs sacrificing the still smoldering corpse of Sokolov. After waiting for the beings to leave, Maximoff recommends destroying the bugs’ operation. She goes in search of Morrison and leaves Harris to destroy the spire. After going back to the Szeitfert mansion for supplies, Harris fashions an impromptu wired explosive and destroys the spire, fleeing quickly enough as to not be caught by the spire.

Making his way back to the bugs’ mining site, Harris finds Maximoff helping an injured Morrison. She recommends trying to blow the mining operation, trapping as many of the bugs inside the shaft as possible. Trying his luck again, Harris makes a second bomb and detonates the mine shaft. The group flee back to the Szeitfert mansion, hoping to get away from Carrollton as soon as possible.

The face of the real enemy appears

Liev Sokolov and Frank Harris head North of the Wentworth home, rushing into the woods in search of the terror that has infected Carrollton. There, they find a bloody totem, some sort of religious icon of unknown make and culture. The spire has been used as a sacrificial rod for the bodies of the Szeitfert clan. As the pair examine the grounds around the totem, they find automobile tracks around the area as well as disturbances in the trees. Something has been here but the pair’s investigation is cut short when they hear gunshots.

Sokolov rushes ahead to find Anthony Moltasanti has been shot by one of the Wentworth boys. Sokolov is able to use his medical training to staunch the bleeding and save Moltasanti’s life. Still struggling with his injuries in his first investigation, Harris hears voices in the trees. Turning to the skies and following the voices, he spots a pair of vaguely fleshy insects, floating in the snowy black sky. He’s able to shake off his horror and flees, helping Kristina Maximoff and Doug Morrison move Moltasanti’s body back to the Szeitfert’s mansion.

The next morning, Maximoff recommends that hte group continue to rush the pair’s investigation. WIth Moltasanti injured, Maximoff and Harris continue to investigate any further disappearances in the town after the Szeitfert’s body was discovered. Morrison and Sokolov promise to examine the totem but Sokolov goes to the Wentworth mansion first to see what the family knows. With a nervous Morrison in tow, he tries to negotiate with Cody and Sammuel. He spots their blind sister, Emma, but both seem wary of letting any Feds into the house. Cody accidentally states that his father has gone missing, which sends Sokolov off again. After the pair fire a warning shot, Sokolov and Morrison leave and go to the totem.

There, a new body has been impaled and his blood continues to drip down the spire. Morrison doesn’t know much about the origin of the totem or its geological makeup and is terrified of what’s taken place there. Maximoff and Harris speak with Oren Schuster at the bar, who states that he’s looking for one of his regulars, Darrel Vanderheidt, the town drunk. After speaking with his wife, Emily, Harris believes Darrel is also an abuser and may have just passed out somewhere.

After examining the totem, Sokolov and Morrison proceed East and spot a structure in the distance on Black’s Hill. Sokolov wants to investigate. The pair make their way over and Sokolov continues to spot movement at the edges of his vision. Something is here and the sound of metal on stone indicates that some sort of drilling may be taking place on the hill. The pair instead focus on a metalline structure, seemingly newly set up. Morrison stands outside guarding while Sokolov enters the place.

The dark structure is cold, linear and brutally claustrophobic. Sokolov utimately finds a small room filled with tubes and speakers and a brain stuck in a brine filled crystal jar. The brain, hooked to the room’s speakers, addresses Sokolov and warns him of the horrors he’s experienced. The brain once belonged to Bryan Wentworth, Cody and Samuel’s disappeared father, and he’s horrified by the inhuman monstrosities who’ve tortured him. He warns that the end is coming and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.

A potential UFO and a kidnapping hit an Appalachian town

In the wake of the Graves killing, Delta Green reaches out to both Liev Sokolov and Frank Harris in different ways. A package containing a tome, Invocations of Dagon, ends up at the Harris’ apartment, seemingly a gift from FBI Special Agent Kristina Maximoff. Meanwhile, Maximoff speaks with the arrested Sokolov in the Essex County jail to offer the former lawyer a deal. Maximoff has found a patsy to take the fall for Graves’ death but, in exchange, Sokolov will become indentured to Delta Green, less as an agent or friendly but as a constant resource for the organization, even if he’s not willing. Sokolov reluctantly takes the deal and is released from jail, unsure of what to do next with his life.

While Sokolov hopes to start a private investigation firm, Maximoff calls Harris with a mission. Mysterious lights and seismic activity have been reported in Carrolton Township, Virginia. The reports match with reported UFO sightings and Maximoff wants to investigate and use Harris’ knowledge of alien activity in Delta Green’s work. She orders Sokolov to assist in the case where the pair will meet with Cell M in Carrolton.

After a drive through the storm and one near accident, Sokolov and Harris arrive in Carrrolton and meet with the remaining members of Cell M, the violent and impulsive ATF Investigator Anthony Moltasanti and the tortured engineering genius Navy Special Advisor Doug Morrison. Upon arriving in town, the team explores the local Szeitfert mansion, where the investigators find the family missing. Sokolov believes the family has been kidnapped. Maximoff recommends the team set up at the mansion and use it as a base of operations while they investigate the happenings in Carrolton.

The investigators split up, hoping to investigate both the kidnapping and the UFO sighting. While Maximoff, Moltasanti and Sokolov head north to Black’s Hill and the Wentworth home, Morrison and Harris investigate the UFO, looking for what residents have seen. Maximoff’s team stops by the electric substation, where Sokolov and Moltasanti realize that someone has cut the power to town. Moltasanti refuses to tell Sokolov about how he got involved with Delta Green. Meanwhile, Harris and Morrison speak with a few local residents about the UFO sightings. The bartender, Oren Schuster, says he doesn’t know anything about the UFOs but recommends the pair look for the Kauflin sisters at the First Lutheran Church. The pair find the sisters, who talk about how they believe they saw Cody Wentworth’s truck near the Szeitfert house before the family disappeared. Barbara and Mary also remember the flashing lights and light earthquakes that accompanied the rise of the winter storms.

Harris and Morrison leave the church and Morrison reveals his dissatisfaction with being Maximoff’s puppet. The pair hook up with Maximoff’s team and eventually go to repair the electric substation, restoring power to the town. Maximoff, Moltasanti and Sokolov proceed to the Wentworth house but Sokolov breaks off from the group to help the two lost Schuster kids. When he returns, he finds both teams observing the Wentworth mansion. Maximoff recommends the team observe the mansion but as the winter storms get worse and night falls, Maximoff doesn’t know how much more the team can do. Sokolov recommends Maximoff watch the house while Morrison and Moltasanti search the family’s farm land. He plans to go with Harris into the woods west and north of the Wentworth house.

As Sokolov and Harris try to move into the woods, Sokolov falls in the snow, alerting Cody Wentworth. Maximoff tries to calm down the impressionable young man but he threatens the team to get off his family’s property or he’ll shoot. Maximoff, worried about the danger the team is now in, recommends that the investigation speed up and try to locate the Szeitferts and figure out just what the hell is happening in Carrolton.